


Footsteps in the Dark

by anna_chronistic



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon Era, Fluff, Gen, Javert has insomnia, Montreuil-sur-Mer era, Short One Shot, Sickfic, Stargazing, Valjean is santa claus, Winter, and Valjean has a crush on Javert, less jump cuts than usual, so i guess my writing is improving?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-22 15:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17062268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anna_chronistic/pseuds/anna_chronistic
Summary: Madeleine is not the only one walking outside on a cold winter's night.





	Footsteps in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from [Footsteps in the Dark by the Isley Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRWtvbyprgo). Also, this is my first Madeleine-era fic. Yay? Comments are much appreciated!

**December 21, 1822 2:46 a.m.**

It was the first official day of winter, and a flurry of snow had cascaded the city. This hour at night was a rather unusual time to be up, but the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, Monsieur Madeleine, had other plans. He had this strange antic of anonymously leaving gifts on people's doorsteps. That way, the village's poor would have a little extra something that they did not have to worry about paying for come Christmastime.

One of the people that Madeleine had longed to give a gift to was his favorite police officer, inspector Javert. He was always on time and was there whenever the city needed him. Javert was also one of the few police officers he'd see during the very late hours of the night. He was always up at odd hours, and Madeleine found that strange. This inspector was not the friendliest person, but not malicious either. He also had a great respect for authority—Javert had treated him drastically differently than he had at Toulon when he was known as prisoner 24601.

Madeleine thought that Javert was peculiar-looking also, but he still liked that for some reason. He seemed to have a face that looked permanently mad no matter what mood he was in. He had dark, thick eyebrows and had sky blue eyes that you could see from far away. He wore his dark, razor-straight hair in a long ponytail, which was unusual for this decade. And he was much taller than the average citizen—he was over six feet. Madeleine and one of the commissioners joked that Javert could never go undercover.

But no matter how much he liked this stoic and mysterious inspector, he could not send him a gift anonymously, because he had no idea where he lived. So he continued along the cul-de-sacs, dropping off packages at random doorsteps.

He was about eight minutes in when he saw a tall man with a ponytail walking in front of him. He had an idea of who this could be, but wasn't entirely sure. He walked quickly to catch up. At this point, he was positive that it was Javert. Madeleine wondered why Javert would be up at this hour, but then his attention was caught by a particularly loud nose blow from the man in front of him.

"Uh, hello?" Madeleine said to him.

Javert turned around, saw him, and quickly put the handkerchief back in his coat pocket. Madeleine noticed that Javert's eyes were noticeably brighter and that his nose was pink around the edges.

"Hello, monsieur le mayor," Javert awkwardly greeted him.

"What are you doing here?" Madeleine asked. "It is nearly 3:00 in the morning, and your shift has been over. I think you should go home and get some rest."

Madeleine could already tell that the inspector didn't like being asked these questions.

"I know that I do not have a shift at these hours. But neither do you. What are _you_ doing here, if I may ask?" Javert countered.

"Well, I was delivering gifts to arbitrary houses at night so that no one would see me. I think it would be a pleasant surprise for this town's residents."

Javert gave him a confused look.

"What, I didn't steal them!" he said in an almost defensive manner.

"I would not accuse you of stealing anything, monsieur. I am just confused by the notion of giving people free things," Javert explained. "With all due respect, sir, wouldn't it be more optimal for people to earn the things that they want rather than getting handouts?"

Madeleine knew from the start that Javert would be skeptical of this.

"Well, this isn't harming anyone, no? And it is, in fact, legal."

"I suppose you are right about that," the inspector said to the mayor.

After that, he turned away to cough into his sleeve. Madeleine noticed the damp, rattling sound that his chest made as he breathed.

"You seem ill," Madeleine said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"It's probably just a cold at most," Javert assured him.

"Yes, but I don't want your cold to turn into bronchitis," Madeleine was concerned. "You should get some rest and probably take the day off tomorrow—er, today."

"But I'm not sure the commissioner will allow it, monsieur."

"Do not worry; I will let him know," Madeleine assured him. "Surely he would allow you to take the day off, as you are one of the most diligent police officers in the city. But you must rest, inspector, so that you recover from your illness."

"If I could, I would," said Javert. "However oftentimes, I try to sleep, but I cannot. It is not uncommon for me to walk alone at night."

Madeleine remembered the young guard at Toulon, how he was up when everyone else was asleep. And how he would never take a day off, even when sick. There was always something spartan about him. He then wondered why Javert was often up walking the streets at night, despite hating cold weather. In addition to being cold, this day's winter solstice was drafty as well. He saw the inspector's long hair being blown by the wind.

"Um, inspector, your ribbon is coming undone," Madeleine pointed out.

Javert saw that his ribbon was askew and took it off. Neither Madeleine nor Valjean had ever seen Javert with his hair down before. It was well past his shoulders and went almost to his mid-back. But before he could re-tie his queue, Javert sneezed, making his long hair fly forward. He pushed his hair out of his face, only to be interrupted by another sneeze and getting his hair in his face again. Madeleine began to laugh quietly.

"Oh I'm sorry, I did not mean to—" Javert began.

"Oh, it's fine," Madeleine said. "I just think it's funny how your hair gets in your face when you sneeze."

"Oh," Javert sniffed, his eyes downcast. "I suppose this will fix that," he said as he neatly re-tied his ribbon, trying to look professional. He then continued walking in the same direction he was going before Madeleine caught up to him.

"May I ask of you, Javert, what do you do when you walk out at night?" Madeleine asked.

"Well, I mostly look at constellations if my shift is over and there is nothing for me to do," Javert explained. "Now that it's the winter solstice, you can see the Gemini constellation clearly."

Madeleine squinted at the section of the sky that Javert pointed out as the Gemini constellation.

"It's like a little puzzle," Madeleine said.

"The stars in the constellations look tiny, but the more luminous ones are actually bigger than the sun," Javert said.

"The sun is a star?" Madeleine asked.

"Yes, it is," Javert said.

"I did not know that," Madeleine said. He was impressed by Javert's knowledge of astronomy. So now his beloved inspector was both diligent _and_ smart.

"Well we better both get home before that big yellow star rises in the sky this morning," Madeleine said to Javert, pretending to be interested in astronomy so that maybe the inspector would like him as more than just an authority figure.

"I believe you are right, monsieur le maire. I'd best be headed back to my apartment. But not about the sun. It is a medium star, not a large star," Javert said with a slight smile as he headed east. When he thought that Madeleine was out of earshot, he blew his nose again. But the mayor could still hear him. He really hoped that Javert would follow his advice and not show up for work on the morning of the 21st.

**December 22, 1822, 7:00 a.m.**

After taking one day off, Javert had returned to work. But this time, he noticed something on his desk: a box. Someone had probably left it there while he was gone. He didn't even have to look inside to see who it was from. In the box was a book titled _Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters (1771)_ by Charles Messier.

Even though he already had a copy of the book—one of the few books he enjoyed reading—at home for years, he still considered it a nice gesture from the mayor. One of his rare smiles spread across his frowning-at-default face. This was one of the few times that he felt appreciated.

Madeleine saw him and smiled as well.


End file.
